


Connections

by Jediqueer



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 04:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11866845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jediqueer/pseuds/Jediqueer
Summary: After the announcement that there was going to be no more single-player content for Andromeda, I wanted to do some writing for honestly my favourite in game ship. It takes place somewhere around the middle of the story and it's a divergent AU - I won't spoil any details but the idea was to put the two of them into a situation where unspoken things can't be kept quiet, fostering an openness between them that neither of them are ready for. I hope you enjoy it, and I'll, y'know... try to actually finish this one.





	1. Structure

The pale green lights ran across the black walls of the remnant cavern like fluorescent spiderwebs, breaking the monotony of the dark, empty chamber in tendrils of blue and green. It was dark – their glow enough to make them visible, but nothing else. But the emptiness was soon broken by fluster of blue light, sparks and swirling holographic patterns in the air. Once those faded, three beams of light cut a swath through the inky darkness. There were figures attached to the lights – two smallish Humanoids, and one large, burly biped who looked more like a walking tank than anything else. One of the smaller ones, a human, was the first to break the silence.  
“Okay Peebee, this is your show. You take point.” she spoke. She was helmeted, wearing white and blue armour, her voice coming out in a slightly synthesised crackle. The smallest, an Asari, strode forward confidently. Unlike the human, she sported more... casual clothes. Her helmet covered the lower part of her face, filtering her air, but allowing her to see without a visor. Something that, privately, she preferred. 'Peebee' looked down the corridor that stretched out ahead of them. Unlike the other Remnant sites, this one had come one with just enough juice to get the gravity well working. The air wasn't being pumped down from the surface and the lights weren't even on. The only reason she could see the shape of the path ahead was that for some unknown purpose... the conduits still glowed.  
“This is definitely new, you guys. Every other site I've – we've seen has been more active than this. But I'm picking up almost nothing in the infrastructure aside from one big charge ahead.” she said, confidently making her way along the path. “So... you want the good news or the bad news?” she added, looking back with a sheepish grin.  
“Good news first, no point in trying to soften the blow after the fact.” The Krogan grunted, striding after her. “Weeell... The good news is that the security in this place is offline. We won't be running into a fight or a trap. The bad news is that... I think all the consoles are, too. So if there's a door or something blocking our path to this energy structure...” Peebee trailed off. “ - We'll have wasted our time coming down here in the first place.” The human finished. Peebee nodded looked slightly shifty. “...and the gravity well might not have enough juice to carry us back to the surface.” She added, scratching the blue tendrils that emerged from the back of her scalp awkwardly. The Krogan let out a low chuckle. “You're seriously lucky you're sleeping with Ryder, or I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get away with pulling stuff like this as often as you do.” Ryder groaned, and punched his arm. “Drack...” she said, warningly, while Drack continued to laugh. “It's a worst, worst case scenario, there's only like, a forty percent chance of us not being able to leave if we don't restore power here. It's only fifteen percent worse than every other remnant structure we explore!” Peebee chimed in, insistently. “There's a 25% chance the gravity well won't let us out every time we go into Remnant Structure,” Ryder dead-panned, “And you never thought this was pertinent information?”  
“Well I was taking the same risk as you so I figured that made it less of a jerk move to not tell you, y'know? And you'd just be worrying about it the whole time if I did so I was doing you a favour!” retorted Peebee, somewhere between desperately trying to justify herself and playing it off like wasn't a big deal.  
“...Pelessaria b'Sayle. If we don't die down here, You are sleeping on the couch.” Ryder said, flatly. Peebee groaned indignantly, and Drack chuckled.  
“After the escape pod incident, you're getting off easy.” He noted. Peebee groaned louder. Though in the far distance, the darkness seemed to break. There was a dim, blue light at the far end of the corridor which grew as they walked closer toward it. Peebee laughed triumphantly. “SEE. I told you we weren't going to die. Light at the end of the tunnel, right? That's a human thing.” She said, knowingly. Ryder chuckled. “It's usually used to describe what people see when they die. Big empty darkness and a light in the distance that you're supposed to walk toward to get to... whatever you think happens when you die.” She responded. “Y'ever seen it yourself, Ryder?” Drack snorted. While she knew he'd been teasing, Dana Ryder couldn't help but bristle at his comment. She'd been technically dead twice now. “For me to know and you to find out, Old-Timer.” she replied, morbidly – but Drack laughed appreciatively. The light was getting bigger... still something of a blur. It was some sort of room, not just a fixed light off in the distance, but what was in that room was unseeable – unknowable as yet. The atmosphere seemed to change and become... heavier, too. _'  
Pathfinder. There is breathable air in this part of the chamber, and I am picking up an unusual oscillating energy signature from the chamber ahead. Additionally – the air is not naturally dissipating from the chamber to the rest of the structure. We seem to have entered some form of contained air pocket. I cannot ascertain why the air would be localised to this area rather than simply allowed to spread throughout the structure, as creating this air pocket is a greater drain on energy than doing so, but shutting off the environmental controls for this area would be the most logical way to conserve power.'_ SAM's synthesised voice echoed in her head and through the comm-links of the other's – reminding her of it's constant presence. “Air pocket..? Not exactly new for the remnant, but... weird, all the same.” Ryder said, glancing over at Peebee. “Any idea on what this energy signature is?” she asked. _'Electrical in nature, but it is also generating a constant repeating pattern of radio and micro waves. Oddly enough, the pattern is crudely similar to the Brainwaves of most sentient creatures, though very basic and clearly synthetic.'_ Peebee gasped. “Wait – this Rem-tech could be thinking? Thinking like a person?” She said, excitedly. _'It does not seem likely that it is thinking or conscious in any way. The patterns are not reminiscent of an AI or anything more complex than a standby signal. It seems more likely to be some form of communications array. It appears to be some form of telepathic interface.'_ SAM said... though Peebee just seemed all the more excited at this prospect. “Telepathic! Telepathic?!” she exclaimed, practically bouncing with joy and walking notably faster. Ryder made her way after the skipping Asari with a sigh.  
“Peebee – Peebee, don't do anything stupid -” she said, though she doubted she could stop her if she was this excited. The Asari didn't even reply, and the three explorers made their way along the hall faster and faster. As they drew closer to the light, the inside of the chamber grew more visible. It was brightly lit, blindingly so, but Ryder could make out that the cavernous room ahead was practically empty save for... something in the very centre. And that something was what was giving off the light. With reckless abandon, Peebee ran ahead and into the room much to Ryder's chagrin – Drack grunted beside her irritably.

“Uh... Ryder..? You... you should probably come see this..!” She called. Ryder frowned, moving on ahead of the Krogan and stepping into the brightly lit room. It was a perfectly spherical dome. Even where it opened out into the hall, it was completely smoothed and curved. There was no sign of machinery or... anything. Just smoothed, polished, jet-black stone. All the light came from a circular pit in the centre of the room... which Peebee was squinting down into. As Ryder moved forward and looked for herself, she gasped at what lay before her. It was hard to see past the lights – which appeared to be ripples and swirls of some liquid that shone in blazing pearlescent colours and flowed around a shape. The shape looked like a skull – but a skull unlike any she'd seen before. It was big, too, at least two or three cubic feet in size, with... four, maybe five eye-holes? She couldn't make out the details. Embedded in the skull were cables and wires that looked distinctly remnant in design. She moved to Peebee's side. “Is that a... builder?” she asked, voice almost a whisper. Peebee looked at her and nodded excitedly.  
“I think it must be, right? What else could it be?” She asked, beaming from ear to ear. “And if the signal from it is mimicking some sort of brain wave, if it's acting like a receiver, then -” “-Then maybe we can talk to it..!” Ryder finished, equally excitedly. “SAM, we should – scan everything, see if we can tap into the signal and talk to... them.” She said, smiling. But no answer came. “...SAM..?” She asked again. Peebee looked at her, worried. “That's... that's not supposed to be possible, right? Your SAM implant can't be blocked, can it?” She said, worriedly. Ryder shook her head. “...We should step out of the chamber, just to check it's localised.” she said, turning. “...Peebee, where did the exit go?” She asked. She looked back the way they had come, around every wall of the room, and every inch was polished smooth and sealed as though there had never been a door to begin with. “Shit....” She said – echoed at the same time by Peebee who was still staring over the edge of the pit, but now backing away. “Ryder – I think we're in trouble!” she said – as the pearlescent, glowing liquid spilled out over the edges of the pit and began to pool at their feet. Instinctively, Ryder reached for her hip – only to find her pistol gone. She flared her Biotics and Peebee did the same, both striking at the walls in unison – but the bluish purple flare of their Biotics dissipated across the walls in a harmless arc – not even leaving a mark. And now, the liquid was up to their knees. It felt cool and viscous... and even though her hardsuit was was sealed, capable of keeping her safe against the vacuum of space, she could feel the liquid against her bare skin, inside of her suit like it wasn't even there. She reached out and grabbed Peebee's hands, staring into her eyes. She felt the Asari squeeze her palms tightly. “I-I'm sorry – I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, this is all my fault - “ stammered Peebee, her eyes glistening with tears. Ryder shook her head... the liquid was up to her hips already. “No – no, it's okay – it's okay, we'll find a way out – I'll...” she felt her voice crack. She had no idea what to do. She pulled Peebee into a tight hug, resting her chin on the Asari's shoulder and holding her tightly. “It'll be okay. I...I love you.” She uttered, softly. Peebee's arms were around the small of her back, squeezing gently. She was trembling. “I love you too.” She whispered. The liquid bubbled and rose above her chest... and only seemed to rise faster, climbing up her neck, to her chin... and then around her mouth. It was in her helmet – she could feel it in her helmet around her lips – she could feel Peebee coughing and held her tighter as the liquid moved past her nose, past her eyes... and she was submerged. The light the liquid gave off blared behind her eyelids. She could feel Peebee tense - shift and squeeze her tighter... as her lungs started to burn as she tried desperately to hold her breath. Her body rebelled against her and she breathed in spite of herself. That was all it took, there was nothing else - light burned in front of her eyes, and everything melted away.

 


	2. The Link

_It's my fault. It's all my fault. She's dead because of me. We're dead because of me. I let myself be with her and got her killed. Kalinda was right..._  
Ryder was jarred to consciousness, hearing a voice – Peebee's voice - except... not hearing it. She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't see anything – she couldn't feel anything. She was present – but she wasn't anywhere. She could hear and think and listen to the sound of Pelessaria's voice – but she wasn't here. Neither of them were. Cold dread shattered it's way through her consciousness as the most likely possibility dawned upon her. _  
She needed me to have a plan. They all needed me to have a plan. She's gone because I couldn't think – because this isn't me, because it's never been me. She's dead because I just didn't have it... just like Dad...  
_ Peebee heard the sound of Dana's voice echoed around every facet of her being like... like nothing she'd ever known before. If she could hear her... maybe she could reach her. Find her. She tried to call her name, and when she couldn't hear her own voice – or any response, she tried to scream. It was like she could feel her throat make the sound – but it wasn't hers at all. Like she was trying to speak with someone else's voice. _  
I don't know what this is – I can't feel anything. I can't see anything I can't – oh god, what have I done? I didn't think – I never thought, I never listened I just did... I'm so stupid, I'm... everything Kalinda told me was true... I... I ruin everything good that I let get near me...  
_ The words became like an anchor... it was so painful to hear her in this state. She was slipping. She could feel her focus being pulled to grief, to sadness and loss... it was hard to think past her feelings, but if she could hear her... maybe she just need to talk to her differently. She focused, hard, past the fog of misery, past the grief and the desperation.  
_This was how Mom and Dad felt. I lied to Scott... I killed them both and I lied... to... Scott... Pelessaria... Can... I can't do this... I can't think... needs me... Peebee... can you hear... me?_  
Hearing her speak to her... past the pain she heard in her words, Peebee could finally hope. It was like a switch was flicked in her head – the moment she knew Dana heard her, that she could talk back... that she wouldn't be alone in this... her brain switched gears from despair to joy faster than she knew was possible. _  
She hears me – she can hear me! Goddess, I love her – I hope she can't hear everything. I suddenly feel very self conscious – I should probably focus – Ryder... I can hear you – I wish she trusted herself – Oh fuck I hope she doesn't hear everything...  
_ Ryder almost laughed, partly with relief, partly because it was so gratifying to hear that no matter what, Peebee was always going to be the same. Though... blurting every random thought that came to her was going to take some getting used to.  
_I hope she knows how happy she makes me – Peebee, are you... okay? It's hard to focus and say what I... want to say. I should have airlocked that Kalinda bitch the moment I saw her on the Nexus...  
_ If Peebee had a better sense of where her cheeks were, she could have more accurately assumed that she was blushing. As it stood, she made an educated guess to say that she would have been. But as they spoke – and clarity seemed to grow between them, not only that, but her emotions seemed to be directly thinking what thoughts were coming out of her... her hope began to grow as she figured out their situation.  
_Dana... I'm pretty sure that we're alive. I don't know how long we're going to be alive for if I can't figure this out – shit she definitely heard that – shit she definitely heard that too – I think that Remnant device activated and this is... telepathy? Maybe?  
_ Ryder would have breathed a sigh of relief if she could have. If there was a chance they were alive... a chance they could get out of this... there was reason to keep hoping, at least. And Peebee's theory seemed... the truest.  
_I can't feel my body – not in the normal way, at least. I can't feel hers, either, and I was holding her as we... I really hate not being able to keep this shit to myself. How do we get out of this?  
_ Peebee considered this for a moment. Under normal circumstances, Remtech was relatively easy to anticipate, and it was decently easy to integrate with regular tech. Case in point – the terraforming protocols. But this was... a little harder.  
_Whatever this is, I think we turned it on by, well... thinking near it. And a lot of what we saw probably wasn't real, either, in fact the room itself probably wasn't real, the builder in the centre may have been but holy shit all this tech is so cool -  
_ Ryder felt a little glimmer of wry happiness, hearing that Peebee thought exactly how she spoke. All... hyper excitement without even pausing to gather herself or catch her breath.  
_She's so adorable when she gets like this. I'm so glad she wanted to be with me. ...I'm also not embarrassed she heard that. But, maybe focus, sweetie?  
_ Dana's flustered little confession made Peebee embarassed again. Happy – but flustered, in the best possible way.  
_U-uh, anyway. I think the device was left on some sort of standby setting, waiting for a signal on the assumption the next person to use it would know HOW to use it correctly and, y'know, wouldn't leave them trapped like this. Heck, there might be another base like this somewhere in Andromeda allowing for instant communication across – sorry, later, focusing – but anyway! The way this looks is that whoever left this here put the emphasis on making it last – lowest power settings possible everywhere but the chamber itself, ready to go at a moment's notice. Which means unlike the other Remnant sites we've seen, conservation of energy is a problem here, meaning that between the two of us, we have to kill the battery. We think hard enough, we can burn out the charge.  
_ Ryder was a little confused at this point. But she felt like she got the jist.  
_I think I get the idea – it'll need power to transfer the data between our brains, so if we make it transfer MORE data, it won't be able to handle it and it'll shut down? Also I hope you realise that you're amazing.  
_ Peebee was starting to want out of this machine more than anything she'd ever wanted in her life, before the embarrassment of it all did her in.  
_Well, that's the theory. Another possibility is that shutting off the system like this fries our brains. Either way... it's probably going to get loud. Up until now it's just sorta been internal monologuing or... whatever you wanna call it. But, for this to work – we've gotta focus on as many things as possible at the same time. Like... songs, novels, movie quotes, memories, technical manuals, sports-bloopers, you name it – as much as you can think of at the same time. Like... like a data dump. Heh, dump.  
_ Ryder thought on this for a moment... then rather than affirm it, she started to concentrate. The first thing to pop into her head was practically ancient movie she'd seen with her dad years ago – She couldn't remember the name, but there was, ironically, a scene at the end where the characters had to think of nothing at all and failed – and had to fight a giant marshmallow man. She tried to remember as much about that movie as possible – then that era of movies, too. That lead her to thinking about their idea of the future, back before the turn of the century – which in turn, lead her to think about all those nights when she was a kid where she and Scott had curled up and watched Movies with Mom – how few of them Dad had been there for. Everything rested ontop of each other, and through the noise, she got glimpses of Peebee's thoughts, too. Unlike her own which boiled down to, well... words, images, tangible concepts – Peebee's were a mix of images and feelings, something she wouldn't have expected from her. And to her great shock... so much of it was sad. She couldn't get a feel for the specifics, couldn't perceive anything clearly when the focus was to, well... not focus... but she couldn't help but feel the desire to comfort her. Breaking this line of thought, however – the Brightness began to dim.  
_It's working – I can feel it working! Keep it up!_  
Ryder's voice cut through the noise like a lighthouse in a storm. This, as an experience, was one Peebee had absolutely hated. It was terrifying to be open when she meant to, but this whole thing had left her so vulnerable – and their only way out was for her to make herself even MORE vulnerable. She trusted Dana implicitly... but she felt like she was freely handing over a lot of herself before she was ready. She allowed everything up – her childhood, her family – it wasn't bad, it just wasn't her. But the forefront of everything, as always, was Kalinda. All the nights together, all the good times... and the overwhelming number of times where Kalinda had made her feel like she was dirt. Like she was nothing. All the times she'd broken her and then come back a few days later to plead forgiveness – and she'd let her. She'd done it. Hell, even after she'd met Ryder, someone who genuinely cared for her – Kalinda could tear her down with a few words. But then... she was reminded of Ryder. What had happened then didn't affect what she had now – what she had gained. It was scary to think of losing her, sure... but Ryder didn't hold that over her head to make her stay. Didn't use what she'd been trusted with to hurt her. Made her feel... loved. Genuinely, openly loved. Peebee couldn't help but find it amusing that while all these complicated thoughts about her life and love bubbled up and gave her something of a personal epiphany, the light was fading into empty darkness – and that was a GOOD thing. She continued to let her thought run wild, but heard them grow quieter – heard Ryder's grow silent, then her own into a muted mumble, like they were coming from underwater... before everything went silent, and dark.

 


End file.
